Cambridgeshire Local Lottery

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The County Council would like to hear your views on a Cambridgeshire Local Lottery.

In March, Cambridgeshire County Council councillors approved the proposal for an online local lottery to benefit good causes across Cambridgeshire. This model is one that a number of other local authorities have adopted to create new funding streams for their local voluntary sector. The next five months offer fantastic opportunity to engage with the community and voluntary sector to understand how this lottery can best work for Cambridgeshire. The success of this lottery is dependent on this working for you – the local charities – and therefore your opinion matters.

What is it?

The Cambridgeshire Local Lottery will be administered via an External Lottery Manager, Gatherwell Ltd, an organisation that specialises in Local Authority Lotteries. The ticket draws will be weekly and all tickets will be sold online.

60p from every £1 ticket of Cambridgeshire Local Lottery will go direct to charities, voluntary organisations and other good causes like you, a much higher percentage than other well-known lottery models.

There are two parts to the local lottery scheme – good causes, like yourself, will have your own webpage created, and 50p in every pound spent by players using your webpage will be retained by you. Good causes are paid their income automatically on a monthly basis. A further 10p in every pound will go into a general Cambridgeshire Community Good Causes Fund. It is proposed that this additional funding will be allocated to good causes chosen by a selected panel of county representatives. Note this is additional funding and will not offset any existing council spending. The remaining 40p in the £1 funds prizes, operating costs and VAT (see below).

There are no costs to the good causes and the ELM will provide tailored marketing materials to help attract people to your cause. Unlike other grants, the money is not ring-fenced and can be spent on what is most needed for your charity to flourish.

Players of the lottery can win a £25,000 jackpot, plus smaller prizes.

More details of how you can raise money with the lottery are demonstrated in this video.

How can you be involved?

Although lotteries have long been a way to raise money, this is a relatively new way for local authorities to work with the voluntary sector. The County Council wants to collaborate with the community to understand how this could work for your charity and what support you may need. This is only the beginning of the journey, with a launch not anticipated until autumn 2018, so we would really like to hear your views on the following:

  • Would you be interested in being part of a focus group to discuss how to make the lottery work well in Cambridgeshire?
  • How would you like us to conduct future engagement with you and your charity?
  • Is there any further information you would want as this stage to help your understanding of the local lottery? We will be creating further communication channels and updates.

We now have a dedicated email set up at cambslottery@cambridgeshire.gov.uk so we would welcome answers to the above, plus any other questions you may have.

What’s next?

The County Council is currently applying for a Gambling Committee Licence. We will then be developing policies, procedures and governance for the lottery and we are keen to ensure that the community voice is represented during this part of the journey.

We will also be engaging with the community at a number of upcoming events and will ensure that these dates are circulated to encourage as many people to attend as possible.

Thank you.

Emily Gutteridge
Senior Transformation Advisor
Cambridgeshire County Council

The Civil Society Strategy Consultation ends on the 22nd May 2018

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The Governments Civil Society Strategy Consultation ends on the 22nd May 2018 at 9am.

Across the Country, individual Charities and Infrastructure Organisations have been sending and collating responses for the Government Department (The Office for Civil Society) to consider and act upon.

Support Cambridgeshire Partners have been feeding into wider consultations facilitated by organisations such as the Small Charities Coalition and NAVCA.

An additional briefing was held at Cambridge CVS on the 17th May 2018, where over 15 community based organisations attended.

The briefing paper and its contents can be viewed here:

Organisations such as ACEVO and NVCO have also formulated member responses and will be publishing their findings in due course, so watch this space for further updates on how the Government plans to use these findings.

 

Countdown to GDPR

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The General Data Protection comes into force on Friday the 25th May 2018.

From this date, rules around the collection, processing and storing of personal data will be far stricter than they have been to date. The Information Commissioner’s Office (or the ICO) will be able to serve fines to businesses and charities found to be breaching the new laws.

There is a lot of free information, resources and help available to charities of all sizes. This FAQ resource produced by the ICO outlines the fundamental principles of the GDPR,  in addition to  useful guidance specifically for small and micro charities.

The Charity Finance Group has also produced this helpful guide for charities.

 

Civil Society Consultation – Have your Say

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The Government is currently consulting on its new Civil Society Strategy.

What is Civil Society?

We all probably have a understanding of what it is or might be, but the Governments current definition is:

Civil society is part of our day to day life. It has a long history of improving and enriching lives – ranging from working with the most vulnerable and disadvantaged, to helping environmental protection or access to the arts and culture. Civil society engages with people that government often cannot reach. We know that we continue to face problems in our society – problems government cannot solve alone. But we are optimistic about the opportunity to build on strong foundations and a shared mission with civil society to shape our country for the better and find creative new ways to respond to these challenges.

Civil society has changed significantly in recent years, with growing numbers of profit making businesses set up primarily to do good, adding to the efforts of traditional not-for-profit charities, community groups and youth organisations. At the same time, businesses are increasingly looking to do more to make a positive contribution to society. The boundaries between sectors are blurring. New actors and social movements are emerging. The potential for cross sector partnerships, collaborations and collective problem solving has never been stronger.

Have your say!

The Government is keen to hear from individuals and organisations. You can read more about the Strategy here:

You can reply using their ON-LINE Response form here:

What is Support Cambridgeshire doing in response to the consultation?

Support Cambridgeshire partners have already been involved in sector wide discussions with other infrastructure organisations and our views will be delivered to Government via NAVCA 

We are also holding our own Face to Face discussions with the Department of Media, Culture and Sports, the Government Department responsible for delivering the strategy.

More news will follow shortly.

What is the Government Timetable?

Over the next 12 weeks Government representatives will be reviewing the ONLINE feedback they receive. The consultation closes on the 22nd May so any responses need to be processed relatively quickly.

For more information contact russell@huntsforum.org.uk

Strawberry Fair – Bucket Collections

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Strawberry Fair is seeking a charity, nonprofit or community organisation to assist in the collection of donations (bucket collections) during their event on Saturday 3rd June 2018 in return for a share of the proceeds.

What is Strawberry Fair?

Strawberry Fair is the most popular free, entirely volunteer run, one day music & arts event in Cambridge (and probably across Europe!), attracting over 30,000 visitors throughout the day. Taking place on the first Saturday of June and now passed our 40th year; residents and visitors gather together on Midsummer Common to celebrate their vibrant and creative city.

The Fair is run entirely by volunteers (affectionately known as Strawberry Fairies) who give their energy, imagination and vision to present to their friends and neighbours in Cambridge a great free day out. A fundamental part of the organisation’s ethos and constitution is that the event must remain free from corporate  sponsorship and that all entertainment should be free.

Strawberry Fair is registered as a Community Interest Company (CIC). That guarantees that all money raised is protected for community benefit. They would prefer partners that have CIC or charity status, but we will consider applications from community groups that can demonstrate all money raised will go to good causes.

Bucket Donations?

Strawberry Fair enjoys incredible good will from patrons, many of whom understand how much time and effort goes into organising the event. Many attendees are more than happy to donate provided it’s easy for them to do so. Raising this additional income has helped Strawberry Fair survive as one of the last remaining free festivals in the country and has helped them to continue despite the ever-spiralling costs related to event management.

To find out more

There is more information in the 2018 collections partnership document or contact is Martin Twiss on 07971 266768 or partners@strawberry-fair.org.uk.

General information about Strawberry Fair can be found at www.strawberry-fair.org.uk.

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